Naturally occurring active ingredients which serve as therapeutic agents, nutritional supplements, aromas, fragrances, colours etc., or other domestically or industrially usable substances, are often located in the cells of biological materials. These biological materials are made up of cells, each of which comprises a cell membrane enclosing the cell contents.
In order to gain access to the various active ingredients, which are present not only in the cell contents but also in the cell membrane itself, the cell membrane must be opened. Mechanical methods are in particular used for this purpose to destroy the cell membrane. Physical methods (for example boiling), chemical methods and biological methods (inter alia fermentation) are also known for releasing active ingredients.
Active ingredient should here be taken to mean not only an active ingredient in the narrow pharmacological sense, but also any substance which is of economic interest (by its presence or absence).
Recently, electroporation has also been used for opening cell membranes. Electroporation is, however, limited to those biological materials which comprise cells containing water and/or oil.
In comparison with the above-mentioned known cell maceration methods, electroporation achieves maceration in a gentler and more effective manner.
Occasionally, when treating a macroscopically uniform mixture in electroporation reactors, breakdowns may occur, in which the entirety or a large proportion of the applied high voltage is dissipated through a thin discharge channel. A large proportion of the material accordingly remains untreated by this high voltage pulse. The discharge channel created by breakdown or parts of the channel and any residual discharge products may furthermore constitute nuclei for further breakdowns.
Changes in the conductivity of the material to be treated may also impair the efficiency of electroporation.
The present invention is provided to solve these and other problems.